Danny does his part in the AOC's Parade.
The next thing was the '50 AOC's Inspection. Station Parade rehearsals were ordered to smarten us up a bit. The Wing Commander had an idea. A Band might improve matters on the rehearsals - but we had no band. So why not select a gramophone record of some stirring march? The radio mechs could wire the turntable into the Tannoy down at the Flights; all we need now is somebody who can hear the order "March" and simultaneously drop the needle into the spinning groove. I was appointed Disc Jockey.
Of course it was a miserable failure. With the best will in the world, the Tannoy would boom out half a beat behind the order; it would take about twenty paces of utter chaos before they got back in step again, and with all the change-steps it sounded (as the SWO graphically described it: "like a cow slapping"). The idea was quickly abandoned, and IIRC, they managed to borrow a band from somewhere (the Army ?) for the big day. Our record ? - "Milanello". (Wiki says it is the Regimental March of the 2nd Battn, Coldstream Guard, and as far as I'm concerned they're welcome to it). As far as I remember, the Inspection passed off all right . I only recall the Parade standing at ease on a warm, calm morning, in absolute silence as the Comm Flight Anson (bearing His Airship) touched down.
One day I had a high trip over the Bay for Tonfanau (28,000 ft), and for the life of me I can't remember what I was supposed to do, or why I had a Spitfire instead of one of the Vampires which normally did all our upper-air work. I was in good time and climbing slowly and steadily, pushing the throttle open bit by bit to keep the power coming.
Suddenly there was this enormous bang, the boost gauge shot up and down to settle several pounds higher and a savage snarl replaced the Merlin's previous gentle murmur. It was several seconds before I realised that the engine was not about to blow up, but that the aneroid controlled switch had thrown and clutched-in the two-stage supercharger. I pulled the knob on the quadrant back to "M" gear and all was quiet and peaceful again.
As we never flew much above 10,000 ft in the Spit XVIs, either there or on my '49 refresher at Finningley, "S" gear had never been needed, and we left the control in "Auto" all the time, as that left the knob up at the front of the quadrant and well out of the way. Here I must put on record that no Spitfire ever did me any harm: any times they scared me it was entirely of my own doing !
Enough for the moment - Goodnight, all.
Danny42C.
Cheer up - it may never happen.